Decline subdivision: report

An application for consent to subdivide 19ha on the edge of
urban Dunedin has run into problems with city planners, who
say the plan goes against the city's guiding spatial plan
document, which does not support any more rural residential
development around the edges of the city.

The application from RPR Properties Ltd is for resource
consent to allow a nine-lot subdivision, of 2ha lots, at 41
Dalziel Rd, effectively changing the zoning in the area from
rural, to rural residential.

The application will be heard by the council's hearings
committee on Monday.

City planner Howard Alchin said in a report to the committee
that aside from the spatial plan clearly articulating no more
rural residential development, a third to a half of the site,
covering six of the nine proposed lots, was unusable or
contained geotechnical issues of varying magnitude that
needed further investigation.

He recommended the committee decline the application, but
said he was satisfied there was a way forward if the
applicant was willing to discuss alternatives that would
simplify the subdivision, making it a better transition area
between residential and rural residential, while at the same
time future proofing the land for better future development.